Midnight Sun Adventure Travel

2008 Tours of Northern Canada: "Arctic Explorer"

“Midnight Sun, Midday Darkness”

The Arctic Circle defines the southern edge of the Arctic through Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia. An imaginary line at 66 °30' north latitude. it marks the most southerly extent of 24-hour daylight on the longest day of the year, June 21.

On our way to Inuvik, we'll find that the further north of the circle we drive on the Dempster Highway, the more days of total daylight we'll experience. This phenonomen occurs because the earth's axis of spin is not at right angles to its axis of rotation around the sun. It is titlted to such a degree that (23°30') that the geographic North Pole itself gets continuous daylight from March 20 untl September 22. 'Midnight' sun really means that the sun is up at midnight, but reaches its lowest point after 1:30 am. Perhaps the "All-Night Sun" is better!

The bad news, if you like lots of daylight, is that during the other half of the year the opposite happens. On December 21, no daylight at all reaches any point north of the Arctic Circle, even at midday. The North Pole itself does not get any daylight for six entire months. However, while the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing darkest winter, the area south of the Antarctic Circle, at 66°30' south, is receiving its share of 24-hour-per-day daylight.